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EF3 tornado in Buffalo County, Wisconsin

Tornado April 17, 2026 · Buffalo County, Wisconsin

EF3
Rating
10.3 mi
Path length
300 yd
Path width
$928K
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 300 yards (0.17 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF3 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF3 is severe damage: whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, consistent with estimated gusts of 136–165 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

This intense EF-3 tornado began near Blank Hill Road where it quickly intensified before damaging three homesteads near highway 88 south of Cream. The most significant damage was to one home where much of the exterior walls were collapsed onto the foundation forming the basis for the EF-3 rating. Other homes and outbuildings sustained significant damage near highway 88 as well. The tornado continued northeast and weakened slightly where additional homes and outbuildings sustained damage before the tornado lifted near County Road X just northeast of Montana.

The wider storm

A prolific tornado outbreak brought 4 tornadoes to portions of western Wisconsin during the mid to late afternoon hours on April 17th. One of these tornadoes was a strong EF-3 tornado near the unincorporated community of Cream, Wisconsin. This intense tornado was responsible for substantially damaging a home with much of its exterior walls collapsed. Additional tornadoes occurred as these storms traveled into Trempealeau and Jackson counties, with tree and minor structural damage along their paths.

Began near Glencoe (44.2900, -91.8000).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

3 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1328885. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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